Artemis Investment Management LLP Sells 81,336 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Artemis Investment Management LLP lowered its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 30.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 81,336 shares during the period. Linde comprises about 1.3% of Artemis Investment Management LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Linde were worth $86,562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 1.3 %

Linde stock opened at $469.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $483.36. The company has a market cap of $225.65 billion, a PE ratio of 36.42, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $464.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $449.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.57 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.